Movie producer Steve Cutler blackmails Lauren Webb with the fact that Lauren appeared in some of his soft-core pornographic films many years ago. Steve threatens to reveal Lauren's past if she doesn't find money to back his next film. After Lauren fails to obtain money from of her boss, Byron Comstock, Steve reveals the secret to Lauren's husband, Tom, who promptly leaves Lauren. Lauren confesses her past to Comstock and offers her resignation, but her boss gives her a fatherly hug and refuses to accept her resignation. Cassie Ray, a young unwed mother, prepares to give her baby up for adoption to Larry McLain and his wife Gail. When faced with signing the adoption papers, however, Cassie has a hard time following through. Mark, who has befriended Cassie, tracks down the baby's father, Eugene, a merchant seaman who is unaware of Cassie's pregnancy. After an emotional reunion, the young couple visits the McLains and convinces them to give back the baby.

Superstar Katherine Cole comes to town for a stage play, accompanied by her devoted manager Anthony. Katherine and Anthony's stormy love-hate relationship stretches back twenty years, and a misunderstanding at one of the rehearsals leads Katherine to fire Anthony. However, Katherine is too nervous to do the play without Anthony, and she frantically searches for him. After she finds him, he helps her face her fears and do the play. When Peter falls sick, the temporary secretary, Bobby, mothers him. While spoon-feeding chicken soup to Peter, Bobby suggests a blind date with her niece, Robin, who turns out to be the most gorgeous woman Peter has met in a long time. A hard-driving career woman, Pamela Harding, on a business trip away from her husband and young son, finds her long-missing ex-husband, Mike, among the hotel staff. Their reunion turns from acrimonious to passionate as they spend the night in Pamela's suite. When Pamela's husband Jeffrey Harding, and six-year-old Timmie, show u

Paula Todd has a reunion with her long-lost sister, Stephanie, a workaholic antique dealer, and her husband, Preston Dwyer. Paula and Stephanie's meeting is emotional, but Stephanie keeps busy and leaves Paula and Preston together. After Preston reveals to Paula that Stephanie has become frigid, he makes a pass at Paula. Stephanie becomes furious, but Preston explains his predicament to his wife and declares his love for her. Stephanie decides to seek help, and the Dwyers embark on a second honeymoon. The hotel staff is excited that Mrs. Cabot will be interviewed by Alexander Heath for a magazine cover story. After various blunders by the well-meaning staff, Heath forsakes the ""quiet elegance"" theme of his article and praises the staff's unpretentious human qualities instead. When Owen Lloyd recruits a naïve teenager, Kelly Braden, into prostitution, Peter asks a retired madam, Rita LeLaine, to confront Lloyd and pretend the area is her territory. Unintimidated, Lloyd sets Kelly up wit

Peter enjoys a reunion with old friends, Kurt and Judy Milford. Peter, who used to date Judy, invites the couple to dinner, but Kurt bows out. When Judy returns from the dinner, Kurt drunkenly accuses her of cheating and beats her. The next morning, Kurt apologizes to Judy; however, he mercilessly rapes her that night. Judy shops for a gun, while Kurt tells Peter that his wife has a drinking problem. In their suite, Judy waits for her husband, pistol in hand. Peter sees her with the gun and tries to reason with her. When Kurt enters and lunges at Judy, she shoots Kurt in the shoulder. Receptionist Megan and bellman Dave are having troubles, too. Their jobs, plus Dave's law studies, keep the couple apart. Billy suggests that Dave pay more attention to anatomy than law. Dave corners Megan in a hotel broom closet and makes his interests clear. Robbie Joe Carson, a country boy with an oil fortune, showers Christine, his former girlfriend, with expensive gifts. With Christine present, Robbi

Television sportscaster, Larry Dawson, and his director, Biff Henry, are in San Francisco to telecast a '49ers' football game. When Larry's wife Maggie arrives unexpectedly, she finds her husband and Biff in a flagrant situation, and she's stunned when her husband admits he's bisexual. In spite of their dilemma, Larry and Maggie share a reunion with their son Kevin in town from school. Wealthy cement contractor Leo McGurty checks in with his voluptuous secretary, Ruby Turner, and enlists Mark's aid in refining the socially inept secretary. Mark tutors Ruby on art and culture, finding her to be a delightful diamond in the rough. Ruby is charmed, having never been lavished with so much attention. Leo puts a stop to the developing romance, but Mark warns him not to take Ruby for granted. In front of all the guests at an important social event, Leo proposes to Ruby, and she accepts. Christine emerges as a celebrity via her appearance in a Nutrawheat cereal commercial and is asked to becom

A booksellers' convention lures Agatha Deming, author of a lurid best-selling novel, Wilma Klein, a highly regarded editor, and Nick Braithwaite, a harsh book critic. Agatha and Nick meet by accident, hiding their true identities from each other. Later, Nick and Agatha get drunk and spend the night together. When they discover each other's identities, Nick calls her book trash, and Agatha storms out. They appear on the Dick Cavett show that evening, and Dick Cavett observes as love wins out, despite Nick and Agatha's difference of opinion. Frances and Carl Bernard reunite with their daughter, Jenny. The Bernards' old friend Peter is Jenny's godfather. Jenny secretly resents her domineering mother's control of her life and wants to be an artist, but her mother has decided that Jenny will go to Oxford to study chemistry. When Jenny fails to get into Oxford and finds her boyfriend Dan with another girl, she attempts suicide. Peter rushes Jenny to the hospital and later arranges a reconcil

Peter hosts a reunion with college classmates Hal Dryer (GEOFFREY SCOTT) and Lester Hooten (CLIFF POTTS), who has become a rich cattle rancher and has married his college sweetheart, Tracy (DEBORAH MAY). The reunion turns sour when Hal flirts with Christine, and Lester becomes jealous of the warm rapport that develops between Peter and Tracy. Lester realizes, however, that his problems with Tracy stem from his long hours of work that leave her alone at the ranch. Mrs. Cabot decides she's lost touch with the workers and is determined to join them in their duties, a move which leads to nothing but aggravation for the staff as Mrs. Cabot fouls up their work. Playboy Ashley Bennett's (JOHN DAVIDSON) mother (BARBARA BAXLEY) has trapped him into a blind date with archeologist Dorothy Mintzer (SHELLEY SMITH), whereas Ashley has a date with a gorgeous model. Mistaking a spinsterish woman for Dorothy, Ashley trades places with a hotel bellman, Jon Kolzak (JAMES HOUGHTON). When the beautiful, re

Sarah, the eight-year-old daughter of hotel tenants Jean and Phil Lawrence, is suffering from headaches resulting from a recent fall. After a sudden turn in the child's illness, Christine calls Dr. Kellin, who suspects a blood clot in the brain and prescribes immediate tests and possible emergency surgery. When Sarah's parents return, Phil forbids Sarah's hospitalization because medical care is against the family's religious beliefs. Christine sets off on a personal crusade to get medical attention for Sarah. Mark proposes marriage to advertising executive Catherine Stevens, who is very much his senior, and whose 18-year-old son Jeff very much disapproves of the relationship. Mrs. Cabot works with art dealer Adam Partridge on a private showing of works by contemporary California artists. Secretly, Mrs. Cabot would love to exhibit her tulip garden painting, but neither Partridge nor socialite and art patron Georgia Potter will allow it; later, in a comedy of errors, her tulip garden pai

Billy is distraught when his father William Sr. suddenly appears at the hotel. It is revealed that William Sr. disappeared after he and Billy's mother divorced; Billy hasn't heard from William Sr. in eight years. Billy resents his father's long absence and is unable forgive him. Two young attorneys, Gary Hanzlik and Joyce Emerson, are about to be married, but Joyce, a domineering woman, is obviously running the show. The reluctant bridegroom's friend is hosting a bachelor party for Gary that features a pornographic movie and a bikini-clad beauty who is to be his final fling before matrimony. The girl is Elayne Grayson, who substitutes for a friend because she needs the $300. Elayne successfully avoids sleeping with Gary, but they soon develop a rapport anyway. Realizing Gary has been trapped into marriage, Elayne gives Gary a taste of what love can be like, and Joyce catches them. Meanwhile, Christine volunteers to shepherd 16-year-old Kevin Walker, who is visiting his aunt, Mrs. Cabot

At the St. Gregory Hotel to set up a sales conference, Martin Brennen immediately takes a liking to Mrs. Cabot's charity fund-raising supervisor, Grace. Grace likes Martin because he reminds her of a high school sweetheart who died 20 years before. Now using an alias, Martin actually was Grace's high school sweetheart. Grace's family told her that he died because they disapproved of him. Famous attorney Jay Falconer checks in to prepare a defense for a cosmopolitan client accused of a hit-and-run accident that claimed three lives. Bellman Dave, studying to be a lawyer, is in awe of Falconer, who hires Dave to be his aide in his off-hours. Megan disapproves, arguing that Falconer is an unscrupulous defender of sleazy ""fat cats."" When Falconer smears the reputation of the prosecution's key witness, Dave is disillusioned with the lawyer's dirty tactics and quits. Billy, Julie and Mark have tickets to a Michael Jackson concert, but when Billy loses the tickets, he scrambles to replace them

Lynn Valli, a former hotel masseuse, and her Italian husband Eduardo celebrate their honeymoon. However, they aren't in love. Eduardo's lover, Monica Shawlcross, who is married, has paid Lynn to pose as Eduardo's wife to get him into the country. When Lynn and Eduardo fall in love, Eduardo must decide between the two women. Christine is excited when her godfather, Matt Carmichael, checks in; she hasn't seen him in ten years. After Matt charms Mrs. Cabot, they begin a romantic affair. Although Christine is pleased to see the two together, Christine discovers through irregularities in Matt's hotel bill payments that her godfather has been leeching money from wealthy widows. Peter has reluctantly agreed to allow Nick Desmond, an actor friend of bellman Dave, to follow him around and prepare for his stage performance as a hotel manager. Nick annoys Peter as the hammy actor imitates Peter and even makes decisions in his absence. Peter is finally able to laugh when a review of the play comes

Ellen Lindstrom winds up in the room of a British diplomat, Anthony Mortlake, who introduces Ellen to heroin. Later that night, he finds Ellen in the bathroom, dead. When police inspector Alvarez suggests a search for a syringe, Mortlake refuses to open his dispatch case on the basis of diplomatic immunity. Joe Lindstrom, father of the dead girl, arrives at the hotel and hides in Mortlake's suite, watching him set up for an injection. Lindstrom holds Mortlake at bay with a pistol and calls for police. Lisa Herrick waits at the hotel for her boyfriend, who has been delayed. Disappointed, Lisa wins the sympathy of Zack Shepherd, an old friend of Mrs. Cabot. Actually, Lisa is there to meet with attorney Sylvester Sullivan regarding the inheritance she is receiving from a mysterious guardian who has looked after her needs since she was an orphaned baby. Julie is juggling romances with two delegates of a computer convention, Errol and Kaz. Christine overhears Errol and Kaz making a bet as t

Gayla and Steve Erickson are in San Francisco to confer with a specialist about their ten-year-old son, Josh, who is dying from a rare blood disease. In preparing for a bone marrow transplant, the doctor's tests reveal that Steve is not Josh's biological father. Alice and Bill Korman arrange a blind date for their unmarried, plain friend, Millie Broome, who is in town for a teachers' conference. When the date has to cancel, Alice hires a professional escort, Charles Vandoor, who spends the night with Millie and finds himself infatuated. While Charles waits for the right moment to reveal his line of work, Millie accidentally finds out from Charles's enthusiastic former client. Receiving most of the attention at the St. Gregory Hotel, however, is the celebrated clairvoyant Constantin Markos, who is in town to perform his unique skills. Markos, an old acquaintance of Mrs. Cabot's, impresses Peter when he predicts that a redhead will soon enter his life.

The staff prepares for the engagement party of Kelly Howland and Brad Dodge. Kelly's father Ned has urged the marriage for financial reasons: his company needs a merger with Victor Dodge's firm to survive. Ned's wife Margot assures her daughter that love can come later. However, Kelly is in love with a young mathematics teacher, David Newman; in fact, she is carrying his child. Adding more complication, Jonathan Talbot, who is an alcoholic, introduces himself to Kelly as her long-lost Uncle Jonathan. Actually, he is Margot's former lover and Kelly's true father. Due to Ned Howland's actions, Jonathan saw his business crumble and then he sought solace in the bottle. Meanwhile, Christine has learned that a lump in her breast may be malignant. Because the same problem claimed her mother's life, Christine is terrified and turns to Peter for comfort. Peter and Christine drink too much wine, and spend the night together, but they're too inebriated to share anything but sleep and a hangover.

The Korsak family gathers for the occasion of the 35th anniversary of Adam and Nell. Adam's accountant and Nell use the opportunity for a romantic interlude in their secret love affair. Nell later asks Adam for a divorce. Their son Michael, separated from his wife, is there with his ten-year-old daughter Jessie, who is caught shoplifting from the gift shop. Michael's wife demands more money in the divorce settlement if Michael wants to keep Jessie. Adam is furious with his daughter Joanna for getting an abortion after having an affair with a married man. Joanna informs her father that his brother, Uncle Ray, had raped her when she was a child. Consequently, Adam finds Ray and beats him mercilessly. Adam and Nell reconcile and the whole family gathers for a happy conclusion to the Korsaks' 35th Anniversary.

Barbara and Dennis Medford are in town for Barbara to accept her award as Today's Woman Magazine's contest for new dress designers. As usual, Dennis is distracted by other women. When the magazine's marketing director, Warren Nicholson, showers Barbara with attention and the two end up in bed together, Dennis admits for the first time that he has treated her poorly. Adrian Fitzpatrick, Peter's former romantic interest, seeks refuge from her unfaithful husband. After many drinks, Adrian invites Peter into her room. When Peter turns her down, she rakes her fingernails across his face. Later, after her husband Jack demands a divorce, Adrian takes a stranger back to her room; after the stranger rapes her, Adrian names Peter as the rapist. When she fails to win her husband back with sympathy, Adrian admits to the lie.

Christine's old friends, Sarah Oliver (MORGAN BRITTANY) and Patty Maloney (DIDI CONN), join their mutual friend, Mandy Vining (MELODY THOMAS), in celebrating her wedding to Roger, a man whom all four women have known before. Tom Sherman (JOHN BECK), who is a bonded courier and Billy's friend, meets his new love, Anne Cowley (MARKIE POST), host of a television cooking series, and her son Bobby Cowley (CHAD ALLEN) after they arrive at the St. Gregory Hotel on a visit from their home in New York. Anne and Tom enjoy a candlelit dinner, until she tells him that her late husband was murdered. Later, after making love in Anne's room, Tom recognizes Anne's husband from a picture: it is the man he accidentally killed when he was an FBI agent. Meanwhile, Peter faces an IRS audit with April Bradshaw (SUSAN WALDEN) without the assistance of his accountant who was rushed to the hospital with a kidney stone. April grills Peter about his numerous tax-deductible lunches, and although affected by his w

Gerald Phelps, a shy advertising artist, nervously prepares to meet his pen pal of several years, Mary Ellen Carson. Mary Ellen is gorgeous, but Gerald, due to his own insecurity, had sent a handsome photo of Peter after Mary Ellen requested a picture. When Mary Ellen arrives, Christine plays along by introducing Peter as Gerald and vice versa. Ted Travers discovers that Sandy Leonard, a girl he had romanced two years ago, is now engaged to Ted's father, Randall Travers. Now Randall would like Ted to join his firm, an offer his son rejects. Fred Hampton, a former professional football star forced to retire because of a knee injury, now works at the St. Gregory Hotel as a bellman. Fred tries to avoid contact with ex-professional player Perry Walker (LYNN SWAN), who is hosting a reunion of his old teammates.

World-renowned pianist Diana Renard has a reunion with old Julliard classmates, Russ and Stephanie McMullen. Diana blames Stephanie for holding Russ back as a musician. When Stephanie confesses that she had lied about being pregnant to keep Russ away from Diana 15 years earlier, Russ and Diana spend the night together. Frank Prescott checks in with his 12-year-old son Anthony, a computer whiz. Frank is too busy with work to do any of the things he and Anthony had planned, so Anthony turns to hacking the hotel's computer system. Soon after Mark catches a purse-snatcher and becomes a local hero and his girlfriend Jill asks him to live with her, a newspaper reporter asks to write a story about his heroics. As Peter and Christine prepare to take Mark and Jill out, a police inspector arrests Mark for assault of an old girlfriend, a charge that Mark denies. Jill begins to doubt Mark's innocence, and the reporter writes a sensationalized story of a tarnished hero. When the charges are dropped

Cathy Connelly is a disturbed young lady hiding a big secret. After testifying in a mob trial, she has been given a completely new identity by the FBI. Now, however, her former husband, a hoodlum named Frank Brenner, has tracked her down and wants her back. Cathy realizes that the gangsters will trace her through Frank. Because Frank threatens revenge against her boyfriend Sam Parrish, Cathy cannot accept Sam's marriage proposal. Mrs. Cabot turns matchmaker, reuniting recently-widowed Elizabeth Hastings with her boyfriend of many years past, Daniel Gerard. Elizabeth looks beautiful and seems to be emerging from the depression brought on by her husband's death. However, a mother-and-daughter controversy develops after Elizabeth's daughter Brook spurns an obvious pass by a young man, playboy Cliff Walton, and learns later that her mom shared her bed with him. A wealthy, elderly gentleman passes away and wills Christine his 40-year-old Rolls Royce limousine plus the services of his devote

While preparing for the annual St. Gregory/Mark Hopkins Charity Softball Game, the Mark Hopkins Hotel's assistant manager, Brian Fox, falls for Christine and makes no effort to hide it. Christine likes Brian, but thinks that he comes on too strongly. At Christine's suggestion, Brian takes a more gentlemanly approach, and Christine ends up in his arms. When Brian lands the job of general manager at a luxury hotel in Boston, he asks Christine to join him, but Christine can't bring herself to desert Peter. Having promised Mary Tyson to look after her 15-year-old grandson Randy while she's out of town, Peter has checked the boy into a room at the hotel. A bit mixed-up, Randy secretly seeks escape in alcohol. When Peter catches Randy drinking with some other teens, Randy berates Peter and stumbles, striking his head. Later, Peter introduces Randy to a recovering alcoholic teen-ager who convinces Randy to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting to deal with his problem.

J. Scott ""Scotty"" Foreman, a wartime Air Force hero, record-breaking jet pilot, financial wizard, author and philanthropist, is in town for a banquet honoring him as Man of the Year. With him are his socially prominent wife, Jessica, and his aide, Russ Turnbull. Trailing after him are reporters Ray Stern and Natasha Cellini, who is assigned to do an in-depth feature on Foreman. Scotty disapproves of the relationship between his daughter, Melinda, and struggling actor Brian MacArthur, even though Scotty himself has a mistress staying at the hotel. Peter and Natasha, former lovers, revive their former affair in Natasha's room. Natasha knows of Scotty's troubled family life, including his estrangement from one son and the suicide of another, but decides not to reveal this in her story. Instead, she intends to concentrate on the strength of his wife, Jessica. Aware of his languishing acting career, Scotty tells Brian that he will secure the movie role Brian recently auditioned for if he ag

Eli Gilmour, a divorced father, reunites with his two children, Quinn, 13, and Josh, 11, after a six month absence. Although Eli has worried that they wouldn't accept his live-in girlfriend, Maxine, his children are more troubled by Eli's efforts to compensate for his feelings of failure. Though their reunion and Eli's behavior are unsteady, when the mother is suddenly hospitalized in critical condition, Eli comes through for Quinn and Josh. A divorced song-writing team, Fran Clark and Larry Matthews, is forced to collaborate on modernizing their 25-year-old hit musical for a revival production. By the time the producer enthusiastically approves the rewrite, Fran and Larry are headed for the altar one more time. After suffering a back injury in an accident, Mrs. Cabot misinterprets a prescription and becomes addicted to pain pills. Peter and Christine are alarmed by Mrs. Cabot's dramatic mood swings; when Peter offers Mrs. Cabot some helpful advice, she fires him for insubordination. M

Two wine-making brothers, Vincent and Anthony Palandrini continue their long-standing feud at a wine conference. When Vincent's assistant, Link, asks Anthony for his blessings to marry his daughter, Camila, Anthony says he doesn't have a daughter. When Mrs. Cabot brings father and daughter together, it is revealed that Anthony believes Vincent slept with his wife and that Camila is actually his brother's daughter. However, Vincent swears that they never consummated their love. While Vincent's wine is being awarded a top prize at the conference, Vincent and Anthony are working out their differences in the hotel wine cellar. When the brothers return to the awards ceremony, Anthony signals their reconciliation with a glowing tribute to his brother. Billy is reunited with his childhood sweetheart, Michelle, the discontented wife of politician Lucas Todd. When Lucas abruptly cancels his vacation with Michelle for one of his typical last-minute meetings, Michelle informs Lucas that she's le

The hotel is the setting for the fictitious wedding of popular soap opera stars Cliff Palmer and his leading lady, Stacy. When Cliff grants an interview to the charming young fan club president, Robin, she seduces Cliff over dinner, and they end up spending the night together. Cliff seems not to notice Robin's difficulty separating fiction and reality, laughing it off as a joke when she asks him not to go through with the on-camera wedding. It becomes clear that Robin is disturbed, however, when she puts on Stacy's wedding gown and attacks Cliff with a knife. A resourceful young shoe shiner, Hank, is determined to establish his own business in the hotel corridors, eluding Peter and charming the hotel staff. Eventually, Peter rewards Hank with his own approved shine stand. Meanwhile, the hotel is also hosting a sequestered jury. Feisty Estelle urges her roommate, Alison, to encourage an obvious pass by another juror, Joe. However, when Joe suggests dinner, Alison declines, much to Estel